Teaching and Learning via the Network

Networked Teaching and Learning Resources
for Improved Rural Fire Management

Project Number 19 - 1994

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Dr. Chris Trevitt
Senior Lecturer in Fire Science and Management
Australian National University
Canberra, ACT, 0200
Australia
+616 249 2938
+616 249 0746
Chris.Trevitt@anu.edu.au

Other Individuals And Organizations Associated With The Project

Subject matter experts:

fire behaviour

Phil Cheney
Director, Bushfire Research Unit
CSIRO Division of Forestry

Neil Burrows
Head, Fire Research Group
Dept of Conservation and Land Management
Western Australia

fire ecology

Malcolm Gill
Head, Fire Ecology Section
CSIRO Division of Plant Industry

Neil Burrows
Head, Fire Research Group
Dept of Conservation and Land Management
Western Australia

rural and forest fire management

David Sapsis
Dept. Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
University of California, Berkeley

Peter Moore
Fire Protection Officer
State Forests of New South Wales

Ian Smith
Regional Manager, South-east region
New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service

Neil Burrows
Head, Fire Research Group
Dept of Conservation and Land Management
Western Australia

fire weather

Keith Colls
Policy Advisor
Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Cooperative Program for Operational
Meteorology Education and Training
National Centre for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO, USA

Assistance in development of computer
and network-based education resources

David Green
Director, Bioinformatics Facility
Australian National University

Tony Barry
Head, Centre for Networked Access
to Scholarly Information
Australian National University Library

Ian Bell
Head, Training section
Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Charles Duncan
Department of Meteorology
Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK.

Cooperative Program for Operational
Meteorology Education and Training
National Centre for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO, USA

Design and development of educational methods and techniques

Margot Pearson
Director, Centre for Educational
Development and Academic Methods
Australian National University

Abstract

This project addresses the critical need, internationally (eg in Australia, USA, Canada, South Africa, Chile, etc), for improved and cooperative education and training for rural and forest fire management. There is a need for improved public education and awareness programs as well as more comprehensive in-service and professional education and training. Major wildfires at the urban-wildland interface - such as the Californian fires in October 1993 and the Sydney fires in January 1994 - have highlighted the extent to which our current approaches to land and forest management, town planning and landscape design, for example, fall short in this regard. Yet we have substantial understanding of what must be done and what is required to alleviate these situations. For example, there is a history in many countries of successful case studies in public education and fire management planning for prevention and mitigation - these need to be documented and communicated widely for the benefit of others facing similar challenges.

We are developing cost-effective networked materials for this purpose accessible via the World-Wide Web and internet. These materials help address the need for students to acquire surrogate practical experience in a subject where it is frequently impossible to timetable safe and appropriate field work. They also permit students and others to explore 'what if' scenarios using fire behaviour and landscape evolution models, and make it possible for case studies of fire management planning 'best practice' in one region (or country) to be illustrated and communicated nationally and internationally for the benefit of all.

Currently, in Australia, we have already developed a pilot scheme which integrates new and existing university course notes and Bureau of Meteorology training materials with high quality graphics and digitised 35 mm slides. These have been structured into a hypermedia library of text, colour slides and graphics for network access from student computer laboratories at ANU, as well as nationally and internationally via AARNet and Internet. The first trials involving students at ANU were conducted in May-June 1994. Innovative teaching practices have been developed and will continue to be developed in order to make optimal use of these materials for student learning at ANU.

Project Criteria

Networked curriculum resources for fire science and management are being made available on the internet via FireNet. FireNet is an international information retrieval network for those interested in landscape fires (Green et al., 1993). It was created in May 1993. Access may be via electronic mail (FireNet@life.anu.edu.au), 'anonymous ftp', 'gopher' software (Name=3DFireNet; Host=3Dlife.anu.edu.au; Type=3D1; Port=3D70; Path=3D1/firenet) or the World Wide Web protocol (URL=3Dhttp://life.anu.edu.au/firenet/firenet.html) using, for example, the NCSA multimedia browser, 'Mosaic'. Registered users already number more than 250 world-wide, and comprise members of the international fire research, management and education community.

Currently, most of the educational resources we have developed so far have not yet been made available via FireNet. This is partly because we have not yet obtained copyright clearance for all the materials we wish to use and partly because we have not yet developed a systematic design for their presentation informed by preferred student approaches to learning and browsing - the first student trials with a prototype development have only just been conducted in May-June 1994.

The materials we have prepared may be viewed by accessing the ANU library server at:

http://snazzy.anu.edu.au/fmosaic/fsty3002home.html

In particular, there is one reasonably complete case study of fire management planning that can be viewed by choosing successively COURSE CONTENT, THE PLANNING PROCESS and DRYANDRA STATE FOREST; case studies of major conflagration wildfires can be found by choosing COURSE CONTENT and CONFLAGRATION WILDFIRES. Examples of case studies of severe fire weather are being submitted through Charles Duncan (Edinburgh University) for publication later this year on a not-for-profit CD-rom sponsored by the World Meteorological Organisation and intended for use in meteorological training and education.

Networked resources and interconnected sources of questions as well as answers via FireNet will lead to a variety of cost-effective improvements in quality of learning and access to higher education. Student surveys conducted two weeks ago indicate a high degree of appreciation for the increased access to lecture notes and other information afforded by this system. Support is also forthcoming from a wide diversity of potential collaborators including those identified above as well as rural-based individuals involved with new Federal initiatives involving country-wide rural telecentres and a local-government computer network known as CouncilNet. One FireNet subscriber who teaches in Chile notes that already resources accessible via FireNet help make up for the lack of suitable textbooks and almost complete absence of library resources in his home institution.

Details of innovative teaching practices afforded by these and related developments have been published recently (eg Trevitt, 1994; Trevitt and Sachse-=C5kerlind, 1994; Trevitt et al, 1993) and further details can be accessed from SNAZZY.ANU.EDU.AU by choosing successively CHRIS TREVITT and BIOGRAPHICAL COMMENTS AND DETAILS ON RESEARCH INTERESTS. The networked approach addresses the contemporary economic imperative to do more with less, and was central to the arguments developed in our recent presentation at the Biswell Symposium in California (Trevitt et al., 1994).

References

Green, D.G., A.M. Gill and A.C.F. Trevitt (1993) FIRENET - an international network for landscape fire information. Quarterly Journal of the International Association for Wildland Fire 2; 22-30.

Trevitt, A.C.F. (1994) Computer-facilitated learning in forest fire management. Proposed presentation at the Asia Pacific Information Technology in Training and Education Conference and Exhibition, 28 June - 2 July, Brisbane. (In press).

Trevitt, A.C.F, and G. Sachse-=C5kerlind (1994) A District Fire Committee Simulation in the professional forestry curriculum: a case study of computer-facilitated problem-based learning. Proposed presentation at Reflection and Consolidation - an international conference on problem based learning, 3-6 July, University of Newcastle, New South Wales. (In press).

Trevitt, A.C.F, L. Stals and G. Sachse-=C5kerlind (1993) Education and training in fire meteorology and climate: a role for computer-assisted learning ? Presentation at the 12th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Oct 26-28, Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA.

Trevitt, A.C.F., D.G. Green and D. Sapsis (1994) FireNet - a forum for international curriculum development in fire science and management ? Presentation at The Biswell Symposium: Fire issues and solutions in urban interface and wildland ecosystems, 15-17 Feb, Walnut Creek, California, USA.

Audio-visual requirements

A colour Macintosh running 'Mosaic'
connected to the internet
together with an overhead display unit.

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